Combined multiple compartment container and pouring spout



1959 M. H- KLAU-SMANN 2,898,004

COMBINED MULTIPLE COMPARTMENT CONTAINER AND POURING SPOUT Filed Feb. 4,1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 INVENTOR.

MILTON H. KLAUSMANN BY g M ATTORNEY 1959 M. H. KLAUSMANN 2,898,004

COMBINED MULTIPLE COMPARTMENT CONTAINER AND POURING SPOUT Filed Feb. 4.1958 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 33 INVENTOR.

MILTON H.KLAUSMANN A BY @M I ATTORNEY United States Patent COMBINEDMULTIPLE COMPARTMENT CON- TAINER AND POURING SPOUT Milton H. Klausmann,Summit, NJ., assignor to Sea]- Spout Corporation, Newark, NJ., acorporation of New Jersey Application February 4, 1958, Serial No.713,245 2 Claims. to]. 222-129 This invention relates in general to acontainer having a plurality of separate. compartments each of which maycontain a different fluent commodity, in combination with means forsimultaneously discharging the commodities separately from thecompartments. a

A primary object of the invention is to provide a container having-aplurality of separate'companments for comminuted or granular substance,each having an opening in one wall of the container, in combination witha spout hingedly. connected to said wall and having a section for eachcompartment so that the spout may swing in one direction tosimultaneously close said openings and may swing in the oppositedirection to simultaneously open the compartments topermit quantities ofthe con tents of the several compartments to be dispensed from thecontainer simultaneously and selectively in separate streams or inseparate measured quantities. s A'further object is to provide acombination of a container and spout of this character wherein thecontainer shall have at least one partition'dividing the container intoat least two compartments, and the spout shall include a body portion"having two spaced but rigidly connected sections that are movablesimultaneously through openings in a wall of the container into and outof the container one at each of opposite sides of said partition so thatthe contents ofthe two compartments can be separately dispensed from thecompartments upon movement of the spout in one direction and bothcompartments can be simultaneously, positively and completely closedupon movement of the spout in the opposite direction.

Other objects are to provide in such a combination a novel and improved,simple and inexpensive pouring spout or combined pouring and-measuringspout; and to obtain other advantages and results that will be broughtout by the following description in conjunction with the accompanyingdrawings in which Figure l is a perspective view of a combined containerand spout constructed in accordance with the invention, showing both thecontainer and the spout in closed condition;' V

Figure 2 is a similar view showing both the spout and the container inopencondition; I Figure 3 is an enlarged horizontal sectional viewapproximately on the plane of the line 33 of Figure 1;

Figure 4 is an enlarged fragmentary vertical sectional view on theplane. of the line 4-4 of Figure 3, showing one section of the spout forpouring operations;

Figure Sis a vertical sectional view on the plane of the line 55'ofFigure 3; f u V v V Figure 6 is a viewsimilar to Figure-4 on the planeof the line 66 of Figure 3 showing the other section of the spout formeasuring-dispensing operations; Figure 7is a view'similar-to Figure :6showing the spout in open position;

Figure 8 is a vertical sectional view on the plane of the line 8-8 ofFigure 3 showing the pouring spout in closed position;

2,898,004 Patented Aug. 4, 1959 v the two compartments of the container;and

Figure 11 is a similar view showing the spout being used for pouring thecontents of the compartments in continuous separate streams.

Figure 12 is a greatly enlarged fragmentary vertical sectionalviewsimilar to Figure 5 and showing a modification of the construction ofthe spout.

Specifically describing the illustrated embodiment of the invention thereference character A designates the body portion of a container whichis formed of any suitable material such as cardboard, fiberboard or thelike and is divided into a plurality of commodity compartments 1 and 2by a partition wall 3 which is shown as interposed between and securedto front and rear walls 4 and 5 of the container. The partition 3 isalso secured to the bottom wall 6 of the container and the compartments1 and 2 normally open through the top of the container which is closablein any suitable manner as by known types of flaps 7.

One wall of the container, preferably although not necessarily, thefront wall 4 is provided with a plurality of substantially rectangulardischarge apertures 8, one for each of the commodity compartments, and acorrespondingly shaped tongue 9 integrally connected with said wall atone end of each aperture as indicated at 9' for hinging movement intoand out of the aperture for a purpose to be described.

. Cooperating with the container A is a pouring spout B connected to thewall 4 at one end of the apertures 8 so as to overlie and close both ofsaid apertures when in one position and to uncover or open both of saidapertures when in another position. The spout comprises two spaced butrigidly connected sections each of which is movable through one of theapertures 8 into and out of the container so that upon movement of thespout in one direction the contents of the two compartments can beseparately dispensed from the compartments without dan get of, mixingthe contents of one compartment with the contents of the othercompartment, while upon movement of the spout in the opposite directionboth compartments can be simultaneously, positively and completelyclosed. The spout is shown as formed of thin sheet metal bent uponitself to form a fiat body portion 11 and sector shapedside walls 12 inthe side edges of the body portion that have arcuate edges 13 concentricwith the axis of swinging of the spout. The body portion 11 is of a sizeto span and cover both of the apertures 8 and the por tion of thecontainer wall 4 between them and one of the side walls 12 frictionallyengages the outer side edge 14 of each of the apertures Secured to theinner side of the body portion 11 between the side walls 12 are a pairof auxiliary arcuate side walls 15 of a shape and size similar to thewalls 12 and each frictionally engaging the inner side edge 17 of one ofthe apertures 8; As shown, the auxiliary side walls 15 comprise parts ofa channel shaped member 0 the side flanges of which constitute the walls15 and the base or bottom 16 of which is rigidly secured in any suitable manner to vthe body portion 11 of the spout. As shown in Figures -3and 5, thebody portion 11 and base 16Fmay be spot welded as indicated at18, or if desired,

as shown'inFigure 12, prongs 19 may be struck up from the body' portion11, passed through openings 20 in the base 16am clinchedover the innerside of said base The spout may be hingedly connected to the wall of thecontainer in any suitable manner, but as shown a pair of prongs or teeth21 project from the body portion 11 through the tongue 9 adjacent thehinge point thereof so as to permit swinging movement of the spout and"tongue at the same time and prevent the spout from being pulled out ofthe discharge apertures 8. With this construction, it will be observedthat each of the side walls .12 and one. of the auxiliary side Wallswith that: part of the body portion 11 between them, constitute asection. of the spout B for each of the apertures 8. Asusual, the outerends of the side walls 12 are provided with lugs 22 to engage the insideof the wall 4 for preventing. swing- ,ing movement of the spoutoutwardly of the opening, and the :body portion 11 has an extension 23at its free end to abut the outside of the wall 4 and limit movement ofthe spout in the other direction. Also, preferably the side walls 12 areprovided with outwardly projecting protuberances 24 to engage the innerside of the wall when the spout is closed as shown in Figures 3 and 6,.to releasably hold the spout in closed position.

Preferably, a tongue 9 of each aperture is so formed that a portion 25of the wall of the container opposite the end of each aperture at whichthe spout is. hinged, is disposed between the side walls 12 and 15 so asto hold said side walls apart and in frictional engagement with the sideedges of the aperture; and the tongue itself tends to hold the sidewalls 12 and 15 of each spout section in proper spaced relation and incontact with the side edges of the corresponding aperture.

The tongue 9 is associated with the spout selectively in different waysso that the spout may be either a measuring spout or a plain pouringspout, and one section may be arranged for pouring and the other sectionfor measuring if desired. For measuring purposes the tongue 9 is bentout of the general plane of the wall 4 of the container and has its freeend separably connected to the side walls or flanges 12 and 15 of thecorresponding spout section as shown at the upper portion of Figure 3,and in Figures 6 and 10. Various forms of connection between the tonguesand the spout may be utilized but preferably each flange or side wall 12has portions 25 stamped or pressed inwardly thereof in spaced relationto each other to serve as abutments for and to receive between them thecorresponding edge portion of the tongue 9 as shown in the upper portionof Figure 3 and in Figure 6. After the body portion of the spout hasbeen connected to the container wall by the prongs 21, the tongue 9 maybe swung inwardly of the container and. its edges may be snapped intoposition between the corresponding abutments 25'. Thereafter the tongue.will swing with the body portion and the wings of the spout between theopen and closed position of the spout as shownv in Figures 6 and 1.0,respectively.

In use of the spout for measuring, when it is desired to dispense ordischarge a predetermined quantity of the contents of eithercompartment, the tongue 9 will have been positioned as above describedand the container will be tilted or turned upside down so as to causesome of the contents to flow into the measuring pocket formed betweenthe body portion 11 and the tongue 9 (Figure. 6), whereupon the spoutwill be pulled into open ordischarge position as shown in Figures 7 and10, after which the container and spout can be tilted in such a way asto cause the contents of the measuring pocket to flow by gravity out ofthe pocket, and then the spout can be pushed back into the container toclose the discharge apertures as shown in Figure 6.

Figures 8, 9 and 11 and the lower portion of Figure 3 show the spoutadapted for pouring the container contents through the dischargeaperture in a. continuous stream instead of in measured quantities. Herethe tongue 9 is disconnected from the abutments 25' and swung forwardlyinto flatwise abutting relation to the body portion 11 of the spout sothat the contents of the container can freely flow outwardly of thedischarge aper- 4 tune over the tongue 9. through thespout. Desirably,inwardly extending protuberances 26 are provided in the side walls 12 toreceive between them and the body portion the corresponding edgeportions of the tongue 9 to hold the tongue in said position.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that the manner offorming the compartments in the container and the number of thecompartments may be varied if desired and, that the number of spoutsections may be varied to correspond to the number of compartments.

The two spout sections are movable simultaneously into open and closedpositions and each spout section is disposed wholly within itscorresponding compartment; and the partition tightly separates thecompartments. Consequently, there is a minimum of possibility of thecontents of the two compartments becoming unintentionally mixed witheach other. The spout is simple, inexpensive and reliable in operation,and the construction thereof makes it possible to simultaneously mountspout sections for all of the compartments in the container wall.

Other modifications and changes in the structural details of thecontainer and the spout will occur to those skilled in the art as withinthe spirit and scope of the invention.

What I claim is:

1. The combination of a container having a partition therein providing aplurality of separate compartments each for a difierent dry fluentcommodity, the container having a wall in which there is a dischargeopening for each of said compartments, and a combined closure and spoutincluding a body portion formed of a single piece of material of a sizesimultaneously to overlie and close all of said discharge openings, asector shaped wall projecting integrally and angularly from each end ofsaid body portion, and a plurality of other similar sector shaped wallssecured to and projecting angularly from said body portion between thefirst-mentioned sector shaped walls each in spaced relation to the nextadjacent sector shaped wall, each of said sector shaped wallsfrictionally engaging a side edge of one of said discharge openings,said sector shaped walls having arcuate edges concentric with one endedge of said body portion, and means hingedly connecting said bodyportion along said edge thereof to said container wall at one end ofsaid discharge openings. 1

2. The combination of a container having a partition therein providing aplurality of separate compartments each for a different dry fluentcommodity, the container having a wall in which there is a dischargeopening for each of said compartments, and a. combined closure and spoutincluding a body portion formed of a single piece of material of a sizesimultaneously to overlie and close all of said discharge openings, asector shaped wall projecting integrally and angularly from each end ofsaid body portion, each frictionally engaging the outer side edge of oneof said discharge openings, a channel-shaped member having a basesecured to said body portion between said sector shaped walls and havingsector shaped side flanges each in spaced relation to one of said sectorshaped walls and frictionally engaging the inner side edge of one ofsaid discharge openings, said sector shaped side walls and flangeshaving arcuate edges concentric with one end edge of said body portion,and means hingedly connecting said body portion along said edge thereofto said container wall at one end of said discharge openings.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS2,069,738 Buchen Feb..9, 1937 2,221,355 Longan Nov. 12, 1940 2,498,795Davis Feb. 28, 1950

